The overall goal of this award is to develop a research and academic training structure on ethnic minority aging at the University of North Carolina. This award will be designed to support and expand existing efforts of the Center for Aging and Diversity, which is in the Institute on Aging at UNC- Chapel Hill, for the purpose of creating new opportunities for research on minority health and aging. The specific aims are: a) To develop a research working group on minority aging and health; b) To expand the research training opportunities for post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty members in minority aging and health; c) To develop a research seminar series on ethnicity, culture, race and aging research; d) To further develop new course offerings for graduate students across the UNC campus, particularly those in health related fields; and, e) To develop and maintain relationships with minority community-based organizations in rural and urban North Carolina to improve subject participation in research and to disseminate information to these communities. The candidate is uniquely qualified to lead this new initiative. She is an experienced researcher, educator, and academic administrator. She has more than 25 years of experience as a researcher and teacher in the field of aging, and has mentored and trained many graduate students. She has also mentored junior faculty at the national level by participating in the National Institute of Aging Summer Institute on Aging Research, she is a mentor for the 2003-2005 National Institute on Aging Master's-Level Emerging Scholars Program, and for the last five years (1999-2003) she has served on the advisory board of the National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral training program (The Family Research Consortium III). The candidate also has demonstrated her leadership by serving on committees in North Carolina that have facilitated building relationships with minority communities. She has the support of her colleagues at UNC-Chapel Hill who have agreed to support this award and participate in its activities. The candidate also has the full support of university administrators, particularly the director of the Institute on Aging and the chairperson of department in Health Policy and Administration.